The vineyard
Purchased in 2002, the vineyard at Earnscleugh Road is one of the few large tracts of quality grape land in the Dunstan Basin, which surrounds Alexandra. Within the site, there are three distinct areas: blocks 1 & 2 are hill soils on shattered schist with schist outcrops; blocks 3 & 4 are at the foot of the hill, on loamy sand over schist gravel; blocks 5 & 6 are out from the hill on shallow loamy sand and stony sand on greywacke and schist gravels. The gentle, north facing slope attracts high temperatures and has the potential to produce a unique wine of greater complexity, from the mix of pinot noir clones planted on the different blocks. 

Earnscleugh Road is at the southern most latitude of established wine growing in Central Otago. At 45°15' south, the vineyard is one of the southern most vineyards in the world, along with a select group of other vineyards on the Earnscleugh Rim.

38,000 vines were planted on 8 hectares in 2003 and the first vintage was harvested in April 2006. 

The grasshopper
The vineyard takes it name from a rare grasshopper, Sigaus childi, which is found only in Central Otago, and predominantly on the Earnscleugh gold tailings, which lie along the Clutha River, across the road from the vineyard. We can't claim to have made the acquaintance of the grasshopper, yet, but we felt that the name had a certain distinctive ring about it. 

And the Rock alludes to the gold that is no longer in the tailings, and probably never was. The new gold is wine and we hope that you will find a little bit of gold in the pleasure you get from Grasshopper Rock. 

The shareholders
The five shareholding families of Grasshopper Rock live throughout the country, from Hamilton to Invercargill. The families originally met through a common interest in agriculture, with four members involved in rural banking. Today, these interests have diversified into banking and finance, dairy farming, sheep and beef farming, pharmacy, fine arts and white baiting. All share an interest in New Zealand wine and food, and annual meetings held at Wanaka are always a celebration of the best of local produce, including and outstanding Pinot Noir.